Throughout the last 100 years, diet recommendations and the nutrition profession reflect privilege and systemic bias, which continues to blame, subjugate, and marginalize people of color (especially Asian Americans) and negatively impact public health goals and outcomes.
In this session, Dr. Burt will share the history of the profession and use the Mediterranean Diet and Monosodium Glutamate recommendations as primary examples of covert bias. To achieve health equity, we must identify the myriad forms of bias impacting the profession, understand the visible and invisible ways different persons are impacted by bias, and take specific actions to create a more equitable health and food system.
Professor Siew Sun Wong will present her 28 years of journey in the U.S. as an English as Second Language (ESL) student and later a minority faculty in the field of nutrition. Through her personal stories from experiencing implicit biases in Dietetics education, classroom discrimination, and promotion and tenure derision, she will share seven lessons learnt as a survival guide for Asian immigrants. Using the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experience in Research (CIMER) curriculum, attendees will get to share their stories, their "I like, I wish, I wonder" and best practices. The session will conclude with a celebration of transformation.